Current Events in January 2020

Amity Packing Company of Chicago, Ill., is recalling approximately 2,020 pounds of raw ground beef.

The product may be contaminated with extraneous materials -- specifically clear, thin pliable plastic.

There are no confirmed reports of adverse reactions.

The following item, produced on January 6, 2020, is being recalled:

• 1-lb. VACUUM-PACKED, packages containing “Pre 95% LEAN/5% FAT GROUND BEEF” with lot code “0060,” case code “11402” and USE/FREEZE BY date of “01/31/2020” on the product label.

The recalled products, bearing establishment number “EST. 6916” printed on the right, front side of the package, was shipped to retail locations in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

What to do

Customers who purchased the recalled product should not consume it, but discard or return it to the place of purchase.

Consumers with questions may contact Pre Brands at (844) 773-3663.

Ford Motor Company is recalling 33 model year 2020 F-150 trucks equipped with 17-inch spare tires.

The spare tire could have been damaged when it was installed on the rim.

The damage can cause the tire to lose air pressure rapidly or detach from the wheel, increasing the risk of a crash.

What to do

Ford will notify owners, and dealers will replace the spare tire, free of charge.

The recall was expected to begin January 13, 2020.

Owners may contact Ford customer service at (866) 436-7332. Ford's number for this recall is 19S55.

Chipotle Mexican Grill has agreed to a nearly $2 million settlement with the state of Massachusetts to resolve more than 13,000 alleged violations of child labor laws.

The company will pay $1.37 million in restitution and penalties and write a check for another $500,000 to the state to fund education programs about child labor and enforcement of the laws, as well as training and workforce development for young workers. 

“Chipotle is a major national restaurant chain that employs thousands of young people across the country and it has a duty to ensure minors are safe working in its restaurants,” said Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey. “We hope these citations send a message to other fast-food chains and restaurants that they cannot violate our child labor laws and put young people at risk.”

Started with a parent’s complaint

Healey’s office opened the investigation after the parent of a Chipotle employee under age 18 complained. The parent reported that the young person, who worked at a location in Beverly, Mass., was routinely required to work past midnight.

The investigation reviewed Chiplole’s employee records and determined that this was not an isolated case. It alleged that minors who worked at Chipotle often worked late and were required to perform duties that investigators alleged were in violation of state labor laws.

The alleged violations included minors employed without work permits, allowing dozens of 16- and 17-year old employees to work later than the law allows, and minors working beyond the nine-hour daily limit and 48-hour weekly limit. 

The alleged violations didn’t stop there. Investigators said Chipotle did not properly notify employees of their rights under the earned sick time law, failed to provide the attorney general’s office with complete timekeeping records when they were requested, and failed to pay workers within six days of the end of a pay period in some locations.  

Now in full compliance

Healey says the restaurant chain cooperated with her investigation and accepted the civil citations as part of the settlement agreement. Since then, she says Chipotle has come into full compliance with state law.

While fast-food and quick-serve restaurants depend heavily on young workers, Massachusetts has very strict rules about employment of minors. State law prevents children under 18 from working more than nine hours a day or more than 48 hours a week. 

Fourteen- and 15-year-old children may not work later than 7 pm and 16- and 17-year-old children may not work later than 10 p.m. on a night preceding a school day, or later than midnight preceding a non-school day. State law also requires employers to have work permits on file for all workers under 18 years of age.

If your credit or debit card was among those captured by hackers who breached Wawa’s network last year, it’s probably now for sale on the dark web.

This week, hackers began advertising the card data for more than 30 million consumers who had used their cards at the East Coast convenience store chain. Experts at Gemini Advisory, a threat intelligence firm, say the source of the card data has been confirmed as coming from Wawa.

Wawa reported it had been the victim of a major data breach back in December. The chain said hackers had successfully placed malware in its point-of-sale systems, with more than 800 locations being affected.

Wawa said its security team found the malware on the company’s payment processing servers on December 10 and contained it two days later. The company says it brought in forensic investigators who determined that the malware began running at different times after March 4. 

A record breach

What is now known is that the Wawa data breach may be one of the largest in history. Because it went undetected for so long, millions of customers used their payment cards while blissfully unaware that hackers were stealing their data.

The security experts at Gemini Advisory identified the marketplace for stolen Wawa data as Joker’s Shash, one of the largest dark web marketplaces trafficking in stolen credit card data. The data package was marketed under the name “BIGBADABOOM-III.”

“Since the breach may have affected over 850 stores and potentially exposed 30 million sets of payment records, it ranks among the largest payment card breaches of 2019, and of all time,” Gemini Advisory wrote in its blog.

It may be slightly larger than the 2013 breach of Target’s credit card network, which involved tens of millions of customers. Target paid $18.5 million to settle the issue with 47 states.

Most card data may go unsold

The firm said major breaches of this type often have low demand from customers on the dark web since credit card companies often act quickly to cancel compromised cards.

Wawa customers who used a payment card at any location between early March and mid December should carefully examine their bank and credit card statements during that time for unauthorized charges. 

Customers should also notify the fraud departments of their card issuers to tell them the card was used at Wawa and may be potentially compromised. The institution may decide to issue new cards as a precaution.

When it announced the breach last month, Wawa said it would offer identity protection and credit monitoring services at no charge to affected customers. You’ll find information about signing up here.

Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg celebrated Data Privacy Day on Tuesday by recommitting to giving its users more control over their privacy. 

In laying out his 2020 vision, Zuckerberg kept Facebook’s resolutions simple: help users take advantage of its Privacy Check-Up tool; make its Off-Facebook Activity tool more readily available; and help users keep track of their activity. The company aims to do that by making better use of Login Notifications, a new service aimed at delivering users even more control over their information. 

“One of our main goals for the next decade is to build much stronger privacy protections for everyone on Facebook,” Zuckerberg wrote in a post. “We know we have a lot of work to do here, which is why this is such a priority for our teams and for me personally.”

The specifics

Facebook’s three-tiered focus plays out like this for its users:

Privacy check-up tool

The privacy check-up tool was designed to give Facebook’ers control over exactly who can see posts and profile information. It also beefs up account security via login alerts and provides a clearer picture of what personal information a user gives to apps that they may be using on Facebook (Angry Birds, Words with Friends, Flixster, et al).

Off-Facebook activity

One of the more pressing problems for anyone who’s online these days is figuring out how their data is used when it comes to advertising. Facebook’s Erin Egan, Chief Privacy Officer of Policy, and David Baser, Director of Product Management, says the platform is handing the keys to ad tracking back to the user.

“Imagine a clothing website wants to show ads to people who are interested in a new style of shoes,” Egan and Baser explained. “They can send information to Facebook saying someone on a particular device looked at those shoes. If that device information matches someone’s Facebook account, we can show ads about those shoes to that person.”

With Off-Facebook Activity’s power in the user’s hands, they can:

• See a summary of the personal information other apps and websites have sent Facebook through its online business tools, like Facebook Pixel or Facebook Login;

• Disconnect this information from their account; and

• Choose to disconnect future off-Facebook activity from their account -- which can include all of their off-Facebook activity or just for specific apps and websites.

Log-in notifications

Inside every Facebook account is something called Facebook Login, which lets the user sign in to other apps and services using their own Facebook account. The bugaboo with the tool is that, until now, there hasn’t been an easy way for users to keep track of it. 

“To help you keep track of your activity, we rolled out Login Notifications,” Zuckerberg wrote. “You should be able to easily understand and manage your information, which is why strengthening your privacy controls is so important. These notifications alert you when you use Facebook Login to sign in to third-party apps to help you stay aware of how your account is being used and edit your settings.”

At the end of the day…

Zuckerberg says users should be able to easily understand and control their own information on Facebook, and a large part of that is making sure there is easy access to privacy controls.

“We’ll have more to share as we continue to make progress on this important work in the decade ahead,” the executive said.

Facebook users can expect to see these changes unfold over the next few weeks. Zuckerberg said that the current plan is to show users a prompt encouraging them to review their privacy settings. 

“The prompt will show up in your News Feed and direct you to the Privacy Checkup tool, which we recently updated. This makes it even easier to adjust who can see your posts and profile information, strengthen your account security by turning on login alerts, and review the information you share with apps you’ve logged in to with Facebook,” he noted.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recommended that consumers cancel any nonessential to China due to a deadly outbreak of coronavirus, and it seems that some airlines are taking that notion to heart.

United Airlines announced on Tuesday that it would be suspending several flights to three major Chinese hubs from February 1 through February 8. CNBC reports that the reduced service will affect about a dozen flights per day, including travel between Hong Kong and United hubs in San Francisco and Newark; Beijing and hubs in Washington D.C., Newark, and Chicago; and Shanghai and hubs in San Francisco, Newark, and Chicago.

United cited a “significant decline in demand” as the reason for reducing service. “We will continue to monitor the situation as it develops and will adjust our schedule as needed,” the company said in a statement.

Coronavirus outbreak spreads

The coronavirus outbreak has been traced to the Wuhan area of China, and it has been a devastating force to those who live there. Chinese officials have linked over 100 deaths to the virus and confirmed infections on thousands of others. 

The virus has begun spreading to nearby countries, and it has even made its way to U.S. shores. The CDC has confirmed five cases of coronavirus in the U.S. so far, affecting consumers in Washington, Illinois, Arizona, and California. On Monday, the agency stated that it was “aggressively responding to this serious public health situation to help protect the health of Americans.”

In addition to avoiding travel to areas hit by the virus, health officials are urging consumers to practice safe hygiene and avoid contact with others who show symptoms of sickness and are at risk of infection. The CDC will be continuing to provide updates on the status of the outbreak on its website.

Boeing’s bean counters have run the numbers on the impact of the 737 Max’s grounding on the company’s bottom line and the results are a pool of red ink -- at least $18 billion worth.

The aircraft manufacturer’s estimated loss came Wednesday in Boeing’s quarterly earnings report where company brass confessed that Boeing has a deep hole to crawl out of.

"We recognize we have a lot of work to do," said Boeing President and Chief Executive Officer David Calhoun. "We are focused on returning the 737 MAX to service safely and restoring the long-standing trust that the Boeing brand represents with the flying public. We are committed to transparency and excellence in everything we do.  Safety will underwrite every decision, every action and every step we take as we move forward. Fortunately, the strength of our overall Boeing portfolio of businesses provides the financial liquidity to follow a thorough and disciplined recovery process."

Out of that $18 billion, more than a fourth is connected to shutting down and then reopening its factory doors if and when the Max goes back into production. Boeing went to banks hat-in-hand only last week, asking for a $20 billion loan to try to offset that loss.

One thing leads to another

The domino effect of the 737 Max runs deep. Overall, Boeing’s commercial airplane production is down 53 percent over a year ago, and it has shelled out $8 billion in compensation and price cuts to airlines affected by Max-related issues.

Getting airlines to trust Boeing again is not going to be easy. Rather than push its luck, Southwest has already cancelled Max-flown flights until June 2020. Airline employees counting on overtime and Max-related assignments also took a hit.

American’s boss weighs in on passenger confidence

Travelers’ trust of Boeing-built aircraft is another thing for the company to overcome. Passenger confidence about climbing aboard a 737 Max when it returns to service is “not good” -- at least not for the moment, according to the head of American Airlines. 

Doug Parker, the CEO at American -- which has a commitment for 100 Max jets -- has told his employees that travellers will trust the plane only when “the best pilots in the world who don’t take airplanes up until they know everything about them, they’re comfortable doing it.”

“Polled today, which a lot of companies are doing including ours, asking people ‘how do you feel about the MAX?’ The results are not good,” Parker said during an employee town hall. “There’s very high awareness of the issue. And there’s real trepidation about whether they would fly it today or not. So that’s clearly a concern.”

“I’ll offer just this. One, all of those polls are being taken today. By the time it actually flies a lot more will happen. Of which I believe will make an enormous difference in that customer sentiment. But the real thing that’ll make a difference…American Airlines pilots get in the cockpit and say “I am comfortable flying this aircraft. That’s what matters,” Parker said.

With many teachers looking to leave their profession after less than a decade, and many citing high stress levels, the results from a new study conducted by researchers from the University of Missouri-Columbia shouldn’t be all that surprising for consumers. 

The study revealed that middle school teachers have higher than normal stress levels, which experts attribute to the myriad of changes students experience at this period of adolescence. However, many teachers are left to deal with the repercussions of such stress levels by themselves. 

“Many studies of teacher stress have used samples from elementary schools,” said researcher Keith Herman. “However, middle school is a particularly important time in students’ lives as they transition from elementary school and have many different teachers. It’s critical that we understand how stress impacts middle school teachers so we can find ways to support them.” 

Assessing stress levels

To determine middle school teachers’ stress levels, the researchers assessed three primary measures using a combination of classroom observation and teacher questionnaires. 

The first step was having the teachers complete surveys that allowed them to rank their stress and how successful they felt they were coping with it. Student behavior was the second part of the study; the researchers observed students during the course of a school day and then had the teachers reflect on their experiences. The last component was interactions with parents, which the teachers self-reported on in a questionnaire. 

Overall, nearly 95 percent of the middle school teachers reported feeling high levels of stress. 

While this is concerning because of how quickly teachers seem to be leaving their jobs, the researchers are also concerned because many of the teachers involved in this study reported not feeling confident in their coping skills. Just six percent of the 102 teachers involved in the study achieved the optimal balance, which is low stress levels with successful coping skills. 

“The evidence is clear that teacher stress is related to student stress, so it is critical that we find ways to reduce stressful school environments while also helping teachers cope with the demands of their jobs,” said Herman. 

Improving conditions

Moving forward, the researchers hope that these findings prompt school districts to follow the lead of other workplaces that offer their employees health and wellness services. 

Having that outlet could be a valuable tool that promotes better overall mental and physical health and helps teachers ease their stress levels . 

“There are research-based tools that can help screen and identify teachers who might be at risk for problems with stress, coping, and the risk of burnout,” said Herman. “...It is imperative that district and school leaders emaine policies and practices that make the job less burdensome while also supporting teacher well-being.” 

Experts have long been debating whether consumers should incorporate eggs into their diets or steer clear, as recent studies have cited the popular breakfast food as being the cause for anything from type 2 diabetes to premature death.

Now, researchers from McMaster’s University say that consumers shouldn’t fear eggs, as enjoying eggs in moderation won’t increase the risk for heart disease. 

“Moderate egg intake, which is about one egg per day in most people, does not increase the risk of cardiovascular disease or mortality even if people have a history of cardiovascular disease or diabetes,” said researcher Mahshid Dehghan. “Also, no association was found between egg intake and blood cholesterol, its components, or other risk factors. These results are robust and widely applicable to healthy individuals and those with vascular disease.”  

Finding moderation with eggs

To assess the health risks associated with eating eggs, the researchers analyzed results from three of the largest studies conducted by researchers from the Population Health Research Institute (PHRI). 

The three studies included a total of nearly 200,000 participants across six continents that were at varying stages of health. Some had been diagnosed with heart disease and others were healthy, which gave the researchers a wide range of data to work from. 

Ultimately, the study revealed that consumers shouldn’t worry about eating eggs when it comes to their heart health -- as long as it is done in moderation. The one egg limit supports some previous research which found that eating one egg per day can actually reduce the risk of heart disease. 

It’s a sad fact, but domestic violence is more common than many people realize. While it’s an uncomfortable subject to talk about, findings from a recent study show that addressing the issue can be important from a public health standpoint. 

Researchers from the University of Queensland found that victims of domestic violence are at nearly twice the risk of developing depression and anxiety orders later in life when compared to those who don’t experience this kind of abuse. The findings were true for both men and women, and the consequences could be flying under the radar.

"The number of men and women who experience intimate partner violence is very similar, leading us to believe couples are more likely to abuse each other," said professor Jake Najman. "People generally don't end up in the hospital or a shelter, but there is a serious mental burden from this type of abuse.”

Depression and anxiety disorders

Najman and the research team found that partner violence -- which can include physical abuse like smacking, pushing, or shoving -- can be especially harmful when it starts early in a person’s life. 

The team says people who experienced this kind of abuse at the age of 21 had shown serious signs of mental illness by the age of 30. This tended to vary between the genders, as women were more likely to develop depression and men were more prone to different types of anxiety disorders. Weathering this kind of abuse over a longer period of time can make these issues even worse. 

"It also raises the question, to what extent is this type of violent behaviour not just a characteristic of the relationship the couple has with each other, but with other people around them and possibly their children," Professor Najman said.

"There is a range of treatment and counselling programs available for couples and families to try and improve the way they relate to one another."

The team’s full study has been published in the journal Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric.

With home prices still rising and expected to rise even faster in 2020, a lot of previously overlooked markets and neighborhoods may get added attention in the months ahead.

A new report from real estate brokerage firm Redfin says half of this year’s hot neighborhoods are clustered in Virginia, Florida, North Carolina, and Tennessee. These areas are identified by having the greatest year-over-year page views according to first-hand accounts from real estate agents.

What these areas have in common is a lower listing price in relation to comparable properties in larger cities. As these home prices have surged, Redfin suggests an increasing number of buyers are willing to relocate.

“Affordability crisis”

Seven of the top 10 neighborhoods to watch in 2020 have median sale prices under $500,000 -- which isn’t exactly cheap. But the other three fell below last year’s national median of $279,900, making them "affordable" when compared to other parts of the country.

For example, the Willowsford neighborhood in Ashburn, Va., in the Washington, DC suburbs, has a median sale price of $918.000. But Wildwood, in Charlotte, N.C., is also on the list and its median sale price is only $181,000.

"The affordability crisis has caused people seeking single-family homes to search in areas they may not have considered before," said Redfin’s chief economist Daryl Fairweather. "Homebuyers continue to be priced out of Washington, D.C. and New York, so you're seeing a lot of northerners moving to the southeast, but even people from as far away as California are migrating there.”

One reason people are being priced out of major markets is declining inventory. Earlier this month, Zillow reported that inventory is down year-over-year in 31 of the 35 largest U.S. housing markets, with Seattle, San Diego, and Sacramento seeing the largest declines. Only San Antonio, Detroit, Atlanta, and Chicago experienced increases in inventory over the last 12 months.

"The end of 2019 looks a whole lot different than we might have expected at the beginning of the year," Skylar Olsen, director of economic research at Zillow, said at the time. 

Prices may rise faster than last year

Having fewer homes for sale on the market isn’t the only concern. Olsen says the decline will likely cause prices to rise faster than they did last year, making affordability an issue for more buyers.

As a result, many buyers are not waiting until spring to start looking. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) recently reported that sales of existing homes rose 3.6 percent in December -- a month not known for home buying activity. Sales were more than 10 percent higher than in December 2018.

Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, says 2020 is shaping up to be a great year for people who want to sell their home. However, he says buyers will continue to face challenges, particularly from rising prices and declining inventory levels.

Lipari Foods is expanding its earlier recall of Premo and Fresh Grab sandwiches to include all sandwiches with a Best By date of February 6, 2020 and earlier.

The products may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.

No illnesses have been reported to date.

The following items, which were shipped beginning December 20, 2019, are being recalled:

The recalled products were distributed exclusively by Lipari Foods to food service and retail stores throughout Alabama, Florida, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

What to do

Customers who purchased the recalled products should not consume them, but discard or return them to the place of purchase.

Consumers with questions may call (800) 729-3354, from 8:15 am – 4:30 pm (EST) Monday through Friday.

BMW of North America is recalling 135 model year 2019-2020 330i and 330i xDrive vehicles.

The outboard rear seat belt pretensioners may not lock as intended during a crash, increasing risk of injury.

What to do

BMW will notify owners, and dealers will replace the rear seat belts free of charge.

The recall is expected to begin February 10, 2020.

Owners may contact BMW customer at (800) 525-7417.

A dangerous outbreak of coronavirus that originated in China has forced the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to take a harder stance on travel to the area. 

In an updated advisory, the agency said that all nonessential travel to any area of the country should be canceled. Chinese officials say that the virus is currently able to spread from person to person in the region, and that has led to over 100 deaths and 4,500 infections. 

The CDC notes that person-to-person transmission has not been reported in locations outside of China. As many as 5 cases have been reported in the U.S. in the states of Arizona, California, Illinois, and Washington. 

“Based on current information, the immediate health risk from 2019-nCoV to the general American public is considered low at this time. However, risk is dependent on exposure and some people will have greater risk of infection, for example, healthcare workers caring for 2019-nCoV patients and other close contacts,” the CDC stated.

“CDC is aggressively responding to this serious public health situation to help protect the health of Americans.”

The agency says that it will be providing an updated advisory for healthcare officials later this week. More information about the current outbreak can be found on the agency’s website here.

McDonald’s doesn’t care if the chicken came before the egg or not, evidently. The fast food king has announced that it’s adding chicken sandwiches to its breakfast menu at all of its 16,000+ U.S. outlets. 

The company has been feeling the heat from Chick-Fil-A and Popeyes in regards to chicken, and Wendy’s and Dunkin’ are also both trying to elbow in on its breakfast business. 

“We’re giving our customers more of what they crave: mouthwatering chicken and breakfast options,” the company’s vice president of menu innovation, Linda VanGosen, said in a statement.

The latest breakfast additions to McDonald’s menu are Chicken McGriddles and McChicken Biscuit sandwiches. Since its foray into the breakfast market courtesy of the Egg McMuffin back in 1971, McDonald’s has done its best to fend off competitors like Taco Bell with its breakfast burritos by trying to stay ahead of the field with innovations like McGriddles and the introduction of All Day Breakfast.

Time is of the essence

In announcing the new breakfast items, McDonald’s also crowed about its improved drive-thru wait times -- a 20-second improvement in 2019. While 20 seconds may not seem like a lot, VanGossen said that the chain showed its fastest drive-thru time in two years in 2019. 

McDonald’s is lagging way behind its peers and is doing all it can to make every minute count. Dunkin’ owns the speed category and is a good minute-plus faster than McDonald’s. 

“Customers spent an average of 255 seconds from speaker to order window in 2019, about 20 seconds longer than in 2018,” noted QSR’s Rachel Pittman. “And with menus becoming more complex and lanes possibly getting more crowded with not only drive-thru customers but also those picking up mobile orders, it's going to be difficult for brands to shave off seconds moving forward.”

The 2019 year-end report on identity crime is out, and the results aren’t very encouraging from a consumer standpoint.

A quick thumbnail of the findings shows that the number of U.S. data breaches tracked in 2019 (1,473) increased 17 percent from the total number of breaches reported in 2018 (1,257). While fewer personal records were exposed overall year-over-year, it’s important to note that 2018 would have had nearly half of the number of exposures as 2019 if the 2018 Marriott data breach never happened. That breach exposed approximately 383,000,000 records on its own.

The report comes from the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC), a non-profit organization established to support victims of identity crime.

Here’s how 2019 shakes out compared to 2018:

“The increase in the number of data breaches during 2019, while not surprising, is a serious issue,” said Eva Velasquez, president and CEO of the Identity Theft Resource Center. “The 2019 reporting year sees a return to the pattern of the ever-increasing number of breaches and volume of records exposed… (meaning) that more consumers are becoming victims.”

The impact on consumers

In ConsumerAffairs breakdown of the report, there were a number of caution signs that consumers need to understand and steps they can take to protect their data. The authors make note of several areas that consumers should focus on:

Convenience in banking and purchasing continues to enable data breaches and unsecure data. “Consumers/ businesses want ease of access to their data and frictionless transactions. Greater security measures often mean creating barriers to accessing data – which means more hoops to jump through and delays in completing a transaction. Shortcuts to strong security create a vulnerability that is easy to exploit, such as default security tools that do not force an automatic configuration update upon installation or easy-to-use/duplicated usernames and passwords,” the report states.

Consumers have to do their part. “Frictionless engagement (an example being a cashierless store that allows consumers to select merchandise from a shelf and walk out of the store without stopping at a checkout stand), doesn’t equal consumer-first security,” the report warned. 

“Every time a consumer requests convenience over a more secure engagement, it creates an environment where hackers and bad actors have fewer obstacles to getting to their payday. Consumers that continue to value convenience over security place their data in the cross-hairs. Consumers need to evaluate whether the additional convenience of faster access outweighs the increased security that additional measures provide. Does that extra couple of seconds mean more to you than the knowledge that your data is less accessible to ne’er-do-wells looking to profit from your PII (Personally identifiable information)?”

Consumers aren’t using the protection tools available. “Lastly, consumers have tools available to them but don’t dismiss the warning signs,” the report admonished. “Got a notification letter that your data was exposed? Don’t toss it aside and ignore it. See a news story about a breach in the news regarding a company with which you do business? Go get more information to see what you may need to do to minimize your risks.”

Consumer resources to improve identity protection

Identity protection tools are one of those things that you don’t know you need until you really need them. And if your personal information gets compromised, spending as little as $7 a month for an extra layer of protection is well worth the expense.

To that end, ConsumerAffairs has produced a guide on identity theft protection to help consumers navigate the various services and find one that best suits their needs. While it’s not identity theft protection service, per se, the ITRC has also created an app that can help keep consumers in the loop as to breaches that are occurring and tips on improving identity protection. It’s available here.

You’ve probably seen the TV commercials for the Ring doorbell security system, which allows a homeowner to monitor who’s at the front door from any remote location.

A software engineer who works for Amazon has taken the step of publicly condemning the product, claiming the way it gathers and archives video is “not compatible with a free society.” In a post on Medium, engineer Max Eliaser said the Ring system should be shut down immediately.

Amazon did not respond to media requests for comment. The company has a policy that limits employees from speaking out on company issues and policies, but Eliaser spoke out anyway.

"The deployment of connected home security cameras that allow footage to be queried centrally are simply not compatible with a free society," Eliaser wrote in the post. "The privacy issues are not fixable with regulation and there is no balance that can be struck. Ring should be shut down immediately and not brought back."

Data breach

Eliaser’s protest does not appear to be directly tied to last month’s data breach involving about 3,000 Ring customers. Some customers had their log-in information, names, emails, passwords, time zones, and camera locations exposed. Hackers who gained access to the information could potentially use it to take over the devices and view video history. 

In an email to customers, the company explained that the information was most likely leaked because of credentials that were stolen in separate data breaches.

Amazon purchased Ring in 2018. In the past, the company has faced scrutiny over privacy issues, mostly around its agreements with law-enforcement agencies and problems with hackers accessing the devices.

Eliaser’s post was accompanied by dozens of other anti-Amazon comments from employees who identified themselves as climate activists and expressed opposition to some of Amazon’s corporate policies.

Denny’s is the latest restaurant chain to commit to a plant-based burger on its menu. The restaurant, which had been test-marketing a burger made by Beyond Meat at locations in Los Angeles, says it will roll out the offering at more than 1,700 North American locations.

To give the launch an extra promotional push, Denny’s says it will offer consumers a free Beyond Burger with the purchase of any beverage at all participating locations on January 30. The free burgers will be available while supplies last from 11 am to 10 pm.

The Denny’s Beyond Burger comes nine months after Burger King successfully tested and launched the Impossible Whopper, a plant-based patty from Impossible Foods. Burger King credits the menu addition with a significant boost in sales.

‘Positive response’

Denny’s says it is the first family dining restaurant group to offer a 100 percent plant-based protein option made with Beyond Meat to its menu. The company said it made the move to help guests move toward a “flexitarian” diet, adding an occasional meat substitute.

“The positive response we received (from the test) validated our decision to partner with Beyond Meat to introduce our guests to a plant-based option," said John Dillon, chief brand officer for Denny's. "We could not be more excited to add the Beyond Burger to our permanent lineup...and expand our menu to meet evolving dietary preferences."

As for the burger, it features a Beyond Burger patty served with sliced tomatoes, onions, lettuce, pickles, and a multigrain bun. The company says the patty is designed to look, cook, and taste like a beef burger.

Denny’s says its new burger will also have more protein, less total and saturated fat, and no cholesterol when compared to a regular beef hamburger. It’s also produced without using soy, gluten, or GMOs.

Competition for meat substitute products

Beyond Meat competes with Impossible Foods for plant-based meat substitute food products, and both are seeking to align themselves with popular restaurant chains. When Burger King announced it was making the Impossible Whopper part of its permanent menu, it reported that its test market in St. Louis resulted in a 16.75 bump in foot traffic.

Nestle, a long-time producer of plant-based meat substitutes, also launched a vegan bacon cheeseburger in October. At the time, the company said the product would be offered to individual restaurants and food service operators.